Questions and answers

Chamber and committees

Questions and answers

Parliamentary questions can be asked by any MSP to the Scottish Government or the Scottish Parliamentary Corporate Body. The questions provide a means for ��˿�� to get factual and statistical information.

Written questions must be answered within 10 working days (20 working days during recess)
Other questions such as Topical, Portfolio, General and First Minister's Question Times are taken in the Chamber

Urgent Questions aren't included in the Question and Answers search. There is a SPICe fact sheet listing Urgent and emergency questions.

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Question reference: S6W-40586

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 22 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Ivan McKee on 30 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what safeguards there are to ensure that local authority officers do not exercise their delegated powers to waive contract terms or financial obligations without democratic oversight.

Local authorities are entirely separate entities from the Scottish Government and it is the responsibility of each local authority to manage its day-to-day business, including meeting statutory obligations in relation to procurement processes.

The rules public bodies, including local authorities, must comply with in relation to procurement in Scotland are set out in the Procurement Reform (Scotland) Act 2014, the Procurement (Scotland) Regulations 2016, the Public Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2015, the Utilities Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2016 and the Concession Contracts (Scotland) Regulations 2016. Parties which have suffered, or risk suffering, loss as a result of an alleged failure to comply with the procurement legislation may bring action under that legislation in the courts.

Question reference: S6T-02701

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 29 September 2025
Current Status: Taken in the Chamber on 30 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government for what reason patients across Scotland will reportedly not be able to fully access the new MyCare NHS app until 2030.

Question reference: S6W-40743

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 24 September 2025
Current Status: Initiated by the Scottish Government. Answered by Neil Gray on 25 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether it will provide an update on how the £4.5 million fund that it announced for NHS boards as part of the budget for 2025-26 will deliver specialist support for long COVID, myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)/chronic fatigue syndrome and other similar conditions.

Further to Parliament’s approval of the 2025-26 Scottish Budget on 25 February 2025, the Scottish Government has been engaging closely with NHS boards to support the allocation of resource for new specialist support for Long COVID, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and other similar conditions.

Boards told us that having funding only for a single financial year would be a barrier to their ability to develop new support. Therefore, following further assessment in line with Scottish Government spending controls, we wrote to NHS Board Chief Executives on 18 September to confirm that this funding will now be made available on a recurring basis. This commitment provides the longer term assurance necessary to enable boards to plan on a sustainable basis, and support the recruitment and retention of the skilled members of staff required for the delivery of services.

NHS Boards’ shares of the available 2025-26 funding will be allocated in full on an recurring basis. From the financial year 2026-27 onwards NHS Boards will receive the £4.5 million resource annually.

In 2025-26 the £4.5 million funding is being provided in addition to remaining resource of approximately £3 million from the £10 million long COVID Support Fund (established 2022). The £10 million fund will be fully disbursed by the end of the 2025-26 financial year.

A breakdown is as follows:

NHS Ayrshire and Arran	£327,482
NHS Borders	£99,208
NHS Dumfries and Galloway	£133,076
NHS Fife	£307,495
NHS Forth Valley	£246,390
NHS Grampian	£437,038
NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde	£957,544
NHS Highland	£300,399
NHS Lanarkshire	£561,378
NHS Lothian	£676,576
NHS Orkney	£21,985
NHS Shetland	£21,466
NHS Tayside	£346,825
NHS Western Isles	£29,138

Total	£4,466,000

We will also provide funding of £33,366 to Action for ME to support their Learn about ME online CPD module for health & social care professionals.

Question reference: S6W-40484

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 23 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government which UK departments it has held discussions with regarding the possibility of the Open Championship being held at Trump Turnberry, in Ayrshire, and what future meetings are planned.

The Scottish Government has not engaged directly with any UK departments regarding the possibility of the Open Championship being held at Trump Turnberry and it has no future meetings planned.

Although the Scottish Government has a funding relationship with the R&A to support their events in Scotland, all venue decisions are solely at the discretion of the R&A and the Scottish Government is informed of venue selection after the decision has been made. The Scottish Government is not involved in the decision-making process.

Question reference: S6W-40483

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 23 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government which individuals and companies were the end recipients of the VisitScotland support for the DP World Tour Nexo Championship, which was held at the Trump International Golf Links, Aberdeenshire, in August 2025.

Question reference: S6W-40141

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Wednesday, 27 August 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 23 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what assessment of the impact of human activity and pressures on the marine area the Marine Directorate has carried out ahead of developing the National Marine Plan 2 to inform its preparation, as set out in the legal duties of Section 5 of the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010.

I refer the member to the answer to question S6W-40140 on 24 September 2025. The assessment of condition is being prepared in line with our duties, and will include the impact of human activity and pressures on the marine area. All answers to written Parliamentary Questions are available on the Parliament's website, the search facility for which can be found at /chamber-and-committees/written-questions-and-answers.

Question reference: S6W-40481

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 23 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what support VisitScotland provided to the DP World Tour Nexo Championship, which was held at the Trump International Golf Links, Aberdeenshire, in August 2025, including any deliverables agreed.

VisitScotland provided funding of £180,000 (£150k + VAT) to the DP World Tour for branding and advertising, which in turn provided Scotland with a global platform to showcase its credentials as one of the world’s premier golf tourism and events destinations.

This funding included the delivery of on-course branding and advertising promotion across live broadcast to a global audience. VisitScotland’s investment enabled a channel to market, and a platform to promote Scotland and the North-East as a year-round golf tourism and events destination, with the intention to inspire future visits.

Golf and golf events are important to Scotland and play a key part of our national identity, supporting communities, driving economic growth, contributing to environmental sustainability across the country and promoting Scotland through global profile.

Question reference: S6W-40482

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Monday, 15 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Richard Lochhead on 23 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government on what date VisitScotland agreed to support the DP World Tour Nexo Championship, which was held at the Trump International Golf Links, Aberdeenshire, in August 2025.

An agreement in principle to support the Nexo Championship was discussed between VisitScotland and DP World Tour at this year’s Genesis Scottish Open, which took place 10-13 July. The final decision to support the event was taken following contract review and negotiations that same month.

The tournament was a late addition to the DP World Tour schedule, announced midway through the season on 6 May 2025. It followed the cancellation in December of a DP World Tour event which had been originally scheduled for the week of 7-10 August 2025.

Question reference: S6W-40449

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 09 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Gillian Martin on 23 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government whether Scottish Water will publish an update to its 2024 sewage overflow data to include data from event duration monitors that have been installed as part of the Improving Urban Waters Routemap and that were not included in the original publication in March 2025.

While this is an operational matter for Scottish Water, it has confirmed to the Scottish Government that the 2024 overflow data publication, published in March 2025, will not be updated.

Scottish Water has confirmed that it intends to publish annual overflow event data for the period January to December 2025 in March 2026. This publication will include annual overflow event data for the Event Duration Monitor (EDM) locations which are included within Scottish Water’s Near Real Time Overflow Map.

Question reference: S6W-40533

Asked by: Alex Cole-Hamilton, MSP for Edinburgh Western, Scottish Liberal Democrats
Date lodged: Tuesday, 16 September 2025
Current Status: Answered by Siobhian Brown on 23 September 2025

To ask the Scottish Government what plans there are to provide fire evacuation equipment to fire services to accommodate all levels of accessibility need.